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Pronunciation exercises: \ʌ\ vs \æ\
/ʌ/ and /æ/ may be easily confused by students. /ʌ/ *with "u": but - fun - just - much - must - number - public - result - run - study - such - sun - Sunday - under - up - us *with "o": another - brother - come - company - cover - done - love - Monday - money - mother - other Homophones: nun - none; won - one; sum - some; sun - son /æ/ *back - bad - black - can - fact - family - hand - happen - land - man - matter - plan - sand - stand - thank - understand - value /ʌ/ vs /æ/ *bug - bag; bun - ban; but - bat; cup - cap; crush - crash; cut - cat; done - Dan; drug - drag; flash - flush; fun - fan; hang - hung; hut - hat; luck - lack; mud - mad; run - ran; some - Sam; suck - sack; stuck - stack; stuff - staff; swum - swam; tonne/ton - tan; truck - track; uncle - ankle; *hundred - hand; under - and; ;Not safe for classroom *fucked - fact; Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1 Spanish Spanish speakers can be divided into those who pronounce "cantri clab" and those who pronounce "contri clob" (for "country club"). In Spain, Chile and Argentina /ʌ/ is heard as a, whereas in Mexico, Central America and Venezuela it is heard as o. Since most translations into Latin American Spanish are made in Mexico, Psyduck (a Pokémon) is pronounced ˈsaidok even in Chile and Argentina. "Bubble Guppies" is translated in Argentina, and presumably Mexican children say ˈgapis. See Bubble Guppies Español Latino ¿Quien va a ser el malvado lobo feroz? /ʌ/ as a For those in the first group the "problem" is that, although /ʌ/ is very similar to the Spanish vowel "a", it is in fact "much" shorter, while /æ/ doesn't exist as such. Many of them have difficulty distinguishing between "hungry" and "angry". Others may think than "son" and "sun" are not homophones. Another difficulty is remembering that there are many common words with the letter "o'" pronounced '/ʌ/. /ʌ/ as o Those in the second group normally don't even know that /ʌ/, the stressed vowel of "brother" is different form /ɒ/, the one of "bother". /æ/ To help students pronounce /æ/ there are three schools of thought: *Practising the Spanish "a" followed rapidly by the "e" (however this would result in a diphthong like the one in "eye"). *A better method would be trying to produce a sound in between Spanish "a" a and Spanish "e" e at the same time, or opening the mouth to say a and trying to pronounce e. *The third alternative is to believe the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1966) that thinks /æ/ currently sounds a in Received Pronunciation. For a discussion see IPA vowel symbols for British English in dictionaries, Section 6. /a/ versus /ӕ/.. This would result in sounding as Spanish "a" and practising /ʌ/ as a different vowel, midway between Spanish "o" and Spanish "a". This could be dubbed the Mexican approach, as they are the biggest group who says "contri clob". References See also *Homophones *Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /ɒ/ External links ʌ - a~e